Real Madrid has beaten arch rival Barcelona to retain the top spot as the world’s richest football club, according to Deloitte’s new Football Money League.

The top six ranking places are identical to last year with Real holding on to the top spot for the sixth year running with of €438.6m for the 2009/10 season. Barcelona came in second place (€398.1m) ahead of Manchester United in third (€349.8m).

Manchester City was the biggest gainer, leaping from 20th to 11th place after raising revenues by 49.5 percent to €152.8m.

Seven of the top 20 in Deloitte’s table were from England, with Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool fifth, sixth and eighth respectively, followed by Tottenham Hotspur (12th) and Aston Villa (20th).

All the 20 clubs represented are from the “big five” European leagues, with Germany contributing four clubs, Italy four, Spain three and France two.

Income includes money from ticket sales, sponsorship, merchandising and other commercial revenues, television monies, corporate hospitality and non-match day stadium use, such as for conferences.

But, crucially, the Deloitte review does not include the cost of transfer fees or player wages, or VAT and other sales taxes, and concentrates solely on day-to-day income from football business.

Deloitte Football Money League
1. Real Madrid: 438.6m euros
2. Barcelona: 398.1m euros
3. Man Utd: 349.8m euros
4. Bayern Munich: 323m euros
5. Arsenal: 274.1m euros
6. Chelsea: 255.9m euros
7. AC Milan: 235.8.m euros
8. Liverpool: 225.3m euros
9. Inter Milan 224.8m euros
10. Juventus: 205m euros
Source: Deloitte: 2009/10

The authors said that Real may now be about to emulate the eight years spent by Manchester United at the top of the rich list, from the first edition in 1996/97, through to 2003/04.

They also said that they had expected to see the full impact of the global economic downturn on clubs during the 2009/10 season.

“We continued to assert that the game’s top clubs would be well placed to meet these challenges given their large and loyal supporter bases, ability to drive broadcast audiences and continuing attraction to corporate partners,” the report says.

“This was more than borne out by clubs’ revenue performance in 2009/10.”

Deloitte also says that the established large and loyal supporter bases and historic on-pitch success has “continued to underpin the brand strength” of football’s top clubs.

Real club was boosted by increased revenues from its three income streams of match day monies, broadcasting and commercial.

“In the coming years, particularly as UEFA’s financial fair play rules take effect, Real Madrid’s revenue prowess should, in theory, translate into a competitive advantage on the pitch,” said the Deloitte report’s editor, Dan Jones.

The Uefa rules ensure clubs in European competitions to spend only what they earn.

“The much discussed implementation of UEFA’s… regulations from 2013/14 will not impact on clubs’ revenue generation, with the key principle underlying the regulations being that clubs do not spend more than they earn,” Jones adds.

“Indeed, the regulations should help encourage clubs to identify and realise sustainable increased revenues.”

Sport Tourism Boom

Europe’s super rich clubs are also sparking a boom in Sport Tourism, an industry now worth $600 billion a year and now the fastest growing sector of travel and tourism.

Along with the exponential growth of participation vacations (holidays with an activity attached– i.e. golf, tennis, alpine) triggered by an increasingly “sportified” society, research by World Sport Destination Expo has revealed that the travel industry’s fastest growing sector will post record profits and contribute an astonishing 14 percent of overall travel and tourism receipts by the end of the year.

At a time when most traditional tourism trends are in decline, Sport Tourism continues to flourish and is set to grow exponentially in the next decade.

WSDE Sport Tourism Expo is the only global exhibition and business forum dedicated to showcasing the booming Sport Tourism market.

Now in its 2nd year, WSDE 2011 will take place in Bangkok, Thailand - Asia’s Sport Tourism Gateway - from 27-29 September 2011.